


When Shadows Rose

by kdm13



Series: Darkness Blooms [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts, Magic Kaito
Genre: Based on a roleplay verse, Gen, KID has gotta have hideaways and they come in handy, Touichi adopts a magic child, Touichi is a good dad because I say so, Vanitas gets a good home, We hadn't played this part out so I figured it'd make a good birthday present
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-09-30 23:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20455304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kdm13/pseuds/kdm13
Summary: A single thing can change everything.In one instance, a magician meets a being of Darkness and takes them in. Can he handle the chaos?





	When Shadows Rose

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ococopuffs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ococopuffs/gifts).

> Another birthday present fic for a certain roleplay buddy of mine because I love writing stuff for her! We have a roleplay verse where Touichi adopted Vanitas pretty early on and made him Kaito's older brother before the magic show gone wrong.

Touichi had seen many things on his time on Earth. He dabbled in the strange and unusual. After all, it wasn’t just anyone who would risk everything to chase after a legendary gem said to grant eternal life and _ not _ plan to use it.

He was a stage magician, but he knew real magic well enough to know it didn’t belong in the hands of just anyone. So when he saw something come out of a cloud of dark smoke that moved wrong and had no signs of any cause even to a practiced eye, he knew something was amiss. And that someone needed to do something. After he looked over the situation, he gathered what looked to be a child only a few years older than his own in his arms. They hung limp and unresponsive outside of a soft groan, but Touichi kept his guard up nonetheless. He couldn’t be sure which sort of people were lurking about. Especially on a heist night.

He carefully made his way to a hideaway he didn’t use often. He took multiple turns that were unnecessary except for losing a possible tail. He didn’t want to take any risks. And if something was dangerous about the child he was carrying, he didn’t want anyone to find them or for the child themself to risk one of his preferred spaces. Safety was key. He hadn’t gotten this far by being completely reckless. Even if he acted like it at times. A show was a show. He needed to put on a good one for the audience.

When he arrived, he made a quick check around the perimeter before setting the child down on the nearest soft space. Then he made another check to be sure. When all seemed clear, he settled down by the child and checked them over more thoroughly. Nothing of note to be found. Not even any pockets he could find, though it was harder to tell with real magic. The body was far too skinny for Touichi’s liking though. Something would need to be done about that. He had the funds. He could bring fresh food and stock the fridge. Of course, there were already canned goods and other things with a long shelf life, so he started with that. The child wouldn’t be getting up anytime soon by the looks of things, but maybe the smell of food would rouse them. Sleep was easier on a full stomach than an empty one.

Touichi didn’t make anything fancy. He didn’t have any reason to. He just made something simple and warm. Some instant ramen. When he brought it to the child, they didn’t move much, but a twitch still gave Touichi hope. “Come on, it’s better when it’s warm.” He didn’t shake the child, but rather put a hand on their arm gently. The bowl of ramen was resting on a tray next to a spoon and a pair of chopsticks. The steam wafting up from it wouldn’t last forever. 

When the child woke, they looked terrified. A cagey look in their eyes spoke of mistreatment. Something he would have to work past in order to build trust. “Eat up.”

“Why?” No child should sound that wary of food. Sure, the situation wasn’t the best, but he hadn’t hurt the child in any way. They had just passed out as soon as they had appeared.

“Why not? I wasn’t going to just leave you there.” Not when who knows what sorts might find the child. They could have ended up dead, or _ worse. _ It was lucky that Touichi had been there at the time. Not many would have taken that appearance well.

The child still didn’t show any signs of moving to eat, so Touichi subtly moved the tray closer. “Would you feel better if I ate some first?” The child nodded, so Touichi ate a spoonful of broth. He could have faked it, but there was no point in that. “See?”

They narrowed their eyes. _ Some _thing appeared off to the side. And when Touichi looked to see what it was, the ramen disappeared. As did the child. Well then. Touichi would have worried were it not for the sound of slurping coming from nearby. Just a bit of simple misdirection then. He could work with that.

“When you’re done, leave the bowl out and I’ll take care of it.” Touichi conjured a colorful trinket and left it sitting on the tray while he went to look around for what had distracted him. The child would probably be busy eating for at least a little while.

Whatever it was that had caught his eye, it could hide extremely well. He scoured the whole apartment, but couldn’t see any sign of whatever it was that had distracted him. Worrying, but he refused to show it. He would set up cameras if he didn’t worry about them being hacked.

There it was again! Something skittered under the couch, but there were no signs of distress. Still, Touichi went over to take a look.

When his eyes adjusted to the lack of light under the couch, Touichi could hardly believe what he saw. He couldn’t see the child at all, just a mound of _ things, _ wriggling occasionally. It was only due to great practice that he refrained from doing something immediately, since he could still hear contented slurping. It sounded human enough.

Fine. It was that kind of night. He could handle this.

“So long as you don’t make a mess under there, it’s fine. I’m going to get a place for you to sleep ready. I can get you clothes in the morning.” No response. Just more slurping. Could whatever those things were even slurp? He had no idea. He hadn’t gotten a good enough look at them. He just had to hope the child was okay because he didn’t want to make things worse by moving the couch and startling them.

He just kept an ear out while he readied the bed for the night.

By the time he was done and had headed back to the couch, the trinket was gone, and the bowl rested in its place. He took the tray back to the tiny kitchen and cleaned it.

By the time the bowl was put away and Touichi went back to the couch, the sound of soft snores drifted up from underneath it. As well as? Purring? He sighed and shook his head. So much for the bed. Ah well, it would be there for later.

* * *

The next morning, after he explained things to his wife, Touichi went shopping. Nothing they had in the house would be the right size. He had at least a general idea of the right size, and bigger would be better to start with. Just something to give the child options.

When he returned to the hideout with an assortment of clothes, the sight he was met with challenged even _ his _ poker face.

Touichi swiftly set down the bag of clothes and strode to the stove. He turned it off with a click, and picked up one of the things from the night before in each hand and deposited them in the sink. He ran cold water over them and ignored the scratches. He had gotten similar from training doves.

Touchi went back to the stove, where the child from the night before was still standing. Quivering. He bent down and looked into the helmet the child had gotten from somewhere as best he could. “Next time, wait for me to get back. I’ll get you some easier things to make later. For now,” a small puff of smoke and the bag was back in Touichi’s hand “try these on.”

The helmet melted away into nothing and the child peered into the bag. They looked confused, but took it and pulled a shirt on over their head. Or tried to, at any rate. Touchi had to help them figure out the holes, and even then, the child hadn’t taken off whatever was _ under _the shirt before pulling it on.

Still. Progress. He could work with this.

* * *

It took several visits for Touichi to trust the child with his real name. Maybe this time he would get something to call them. It was brought up casually while they ate together. “I’m Kuroba Touichi. What’s your name?”

The child took a moment to slurp their noodles, but didn’t bother to finish chewing before they responded. “Vanitas.”

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't planning on this being a series but it feels like it might be a series. So I'm making it part of one just in case so people can subscribe to _that_ if they want to instead of the fic which shall not change from 1,412 words.
> 
> Also this has been giving me trouble with the word count for almost an hour now I give up. Google docs says it's 1,412 words and so does an external site until i post it into ao3 and try to save it and then the word count is different? It's a difference of one character, too. It's driving me bonkers but I really wanna get this up. So if the word count is different, it lies. It's literally copying and pasting the same stuff but once it goes though ao3 it magically has an extra word and character idk.


End file.
